Pakistan
Novel:
How It Happened by Shazaf Fatima Haider
Summary: This
2012 novel takes a look at traditional arranged marriages in Pakistan through
the eyes of a young teenage girl whose siblings are preparing for marriage. Her
grandmother, the matriarch of the family, has strict ideas about how marriages
should be arranged and the kinds of people that are “worthy” of marrying into
their family. The main conflict in the novel comes from the children resisting
these traditional views and wanting to make choices for themselves, while at
the same time wanting to respect centuries of tradition and please their
grandmother.
Response: This
book was written for people who already know a lot about traditional arranged
marriages and about Pakistani culture. It is not written for an audience of Westerners.
I found myself looking up words constantly and writing in the margins of the
book because there were so many unfamiliar terms.
A lot of the reviews I read about the book described it as “laugh-out-loud
funny” and “hilarious.” It was definitely amusing, but I think my own ignorance
prevented me from connecting with it as a “hilarious” novel. I really enjoyed
reading it, though. The writing style is fresh and the plot moves very quickly.
Overall, it was a great read!
Food:
Chicken Biryani
I bought all of the ingredients for “Hyderabadi Style”
biryani before my husband informed me that Hyderabad is in India. Oops! So, I
scrambled to find a Pakistani recipe for biryani. This project certainly gave
me an education and showed me just how ignorant I was about certain parts of
the world.
I also ended up on a reddit thread discussing how impossible
it was to settle on a particular biryani recipe, or even a national cuisine for
countries like Pakistan and India, where there are many different religions and
cultures with distinct food traditions. In any case, I settled on this one: https://www.faskitchen.com/pakistani-chicken-biryani-recipe-chicken-biryani-pakistani-style/
I would love to go to
Pakistan someday and try it for myself.
Cocktail:
Whiskey Tonic
So, they don’t really drink in Pakistan because it’s such a
predominantly Muslim country. However, I found this 2002 article in which the
author investigated the underground cocktail scene in Pakistan: https://www.weeklystandard.com/tucker-carlson/cocktails-in-pakistan
Basically, there is a tiny bar in the Karachi
airport, and there is one single brewery run by a Zoroastrian guy who makes
beer and whiskey. Obviously, I needed to make a whiskey cocktail. I figured
tonic was a natural mixer, since it was developed in India and Pakistan to prevent
malaria. Plus, since drinking is so rare in Pakistan, I figured a simpler cocktail
would be more representative. One shot of whiskey over rocks in a short glass,
fill with tonic, and a lemon slice for garnish - voila!
Djam!
